


Dadding Together

by friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes



Series: You and I, Together [3]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: (but all dads make mistakes), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Always Says the Absolute Worst Thing He Could Possibly Say, Charles and Erik Are Good Dads, Erik is a Sweetheart, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 22:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21125915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes/pseuds/friendlyneighbourhoodteacakes
Summary: It's hard for Charles to resist making a silly dad joke. It doesn't go down well.





	Dadding Together

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff based on [this Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/dhfeg9/aita_for_making_a_dad_joke/) <3

Nobody ever told Charles that turning fifteen activated a magical switch in a teenager’s brain which transformed them into the grumpiest, most sarcastic, savage little beasts. Lorna’s only been fifteen for two months, and he’s certain all his hair is going to be grey before the third month is out.

“You _know _you can’t use your powers on other students, especially not on ones who aren’t mutants,” he tells her, once they’re in the house and Nina has been set down on the floor to play. He can hardly believe it. In all the years he’s known Lorna, she’s never had to be picked up from school for misbehaving. Now, back home, she’s apparently determined to continue her streak of trouble.

“Whatever. She started it,” Lorna says, staring down at her phone and flipping her green hair over her shoulder. It’s a line Charles has heard before, thanks to having five children. “I’m going to my room,” she announces, turning on her heel and heading straight for the stairs.

“No, you are not,” Charles says firmly, quickly wheeling himself into her path. Lorna almost walks into him, stopping just short of doing so, and raises her eyes from her phone, glaring. “You tripped over another student by making a pipe bulge through the floor and caused property damage to your _school _in the process. That can’t go unpunished. Give me your phone.” He holds out his hand expectantly. “You’re grounded for a month and your pocket money for the next six months is going towards paying for the damage.”

Already, Lorna’s mouth is gaping open. “You can’t do that!” she shouts, holding her phone well out of reach. “She didn’t even get hurt! Everyone’s overreacting, this is so _unfair_!” And to emphasise her point, she stamps her foot.

“Give me your phone,” Charles repeats calmly. “It doesn’t matter that she wasn’t hurt. The point is, she could’ve been, and you should _not _be using your powers to potentially harm others and definitely not to damage your school building.”

Lorna continues to glare, and Charles can pinpoint the exact moment she decides she’s not going down without a fight. The determination settles in her mind and she draws herself up to her full height, squaring her shoulders, looking like her father’s twin. “You aren’t taking my phone. I don’t have to listen to you. You’re not my dad.”

There’s no denying it; the words hurt, and Charles rolls his chair back slightly to process them. When he married Erik, when Lorna was a few months shy of turning three, they filed adoption paperwork, with no protests from Susanna. Legally, if not biologically, Charles is supposed to be as much her dad as Erik.

Swallowing hard, he sets his jaw. “Fine,” he says quietly. “We’ll see what your father has to say about this when he’s home.”

“_Fine_,” Lorna snaps back and with that, she flounces off upstairs, phone held triumphantly in hand. A few moments later, he hears her bedroom door slam.

Biting back hurt and anger, Charles turns back to Nina, who’s happily scribbling a drawing on a piece of paper. He clears his throat to try and dislodge the lump that’s formed there. “What are you drawing, sweetheart?” he asks, making his way over to her. She chatters excitedly about her drawing, the way a two-and-a-half-year-old does, and he transfers himself down onto the floor to help her with some of the details.

He knows, deep down, Lorna didn’t mean it, but that doesn’t really make it hurt any less.

**.x.x.x.**

Predictably, Erik takes his side. Even though he advocates for their kids using their powers in a serious fight (“Use whatever advantage you have to win!”), he agrees it’s wrong to damage the school building and to trip someone up over something as trivial as an argument about _boys_.

Lorna gets grounded, her phone is confiscated, and she doesn’t fight Erik about any of it.

“You know she didn’t mean the dad thing,” Erik says later that night, after Charles explains exactly what happened. They’re lying in bed, ready to fall asleep. “She’s a teenager. They say stupid things all the time.”

Even though Charles knows it’s true, the hurt doesn’t quite fade away.

**.x.x.x.**

Grocery shopping with Erik and five children is a pain and Charles knows he really should start doing it during the week, when he only has Nina’s desires (and, okay, yes, his own) to contend with and everyone else is at work and school.

“Can we get chocolate?”

“I want popcorn!”

“I scream!”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Can we get this?”

Charles stares at Erik in exasperation as he holds up a Stormtrooper helmet. He doesn’t even know how he managed to find it on the cereal aisle. “Erik, as much as I’d _like _to buy that, I’d actually much prefer it if you could help me wrangle our five kids, so we all survive this shopping trip,” he tells him.

Chuckling, Erik puts the helmet back down on a shelf. Someone, at least, knows when not to push for something they don’t need. Charles breathes a slight sigh of relief.

In response, Nina bangs her hands on the handlebar of the trolley again. “I scream!” she repeats, kicking her feet.

“Daaaaaad, I want this chocolate!” Pietro whines, almost immediately afterwards. Someone has clearly zoomed ahead to the candy aisle while his dads blinked.

“Chocolate and popcorn!” David shouts, and it’s not fair, because David, their six-year-old who’s rapidly approaching seven, is usually the quietest of the lot. They’ve hit the jackpot today.

Charles is fairly certain kids don’t _really _need food to survive. They could probably all go home right now. He raises his fingertips to his temples and rubs a few circles, already able to feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

At least Wanda is behaving, but even she tugs on Erik’s sleeve, to ask again, “What’s for dinner?”

“We’ll decide soon, Liebling,” Erik assures her.

There’s a heavy sigh from behind them, and Charles is rolling his eyes before he can stop himself. “What is it, Lorna?” he asks, as politely as he can, turning around to face her. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Erik looking at him, and his husband pushes a thought of warning towards him.

“This is boring,” Lorna huffs, throwing her hands up in the air. “I need my phone.”

“You do not need your phone,” Charles says, as patiently as he can. “You will not be having your phone back until Monday morning, before you go to school, and you’ll be giving it back to us as soon as you get back. You know why.”

There’s a groan of frustration from Lorna, and she folds her arms across her chest, glaring at the nearest shelf.

Charles hopes that’s going to be the end of it.

(It is not.)

The kids continue to ask for things all the way around the store. They all know they’re only allowed _one _treat per shopping trip, but they’re pushing their luck today. Money isn’t an issue, but Charles is determined not to spoil them.

And Lorna mopes and drags her feet the entire time.

“I’m hungry,” she complains, when they’re finally on their way to the checkout line.

Charles takes a deep breath, ready to remind her they always decide on lunch when they’re in the car, but instead, something floats into his mind. He grabs it, and rolls with it. It’s one of his funnier dad jokes, he thinks, before he’s had chance to _actually _think it through.

“Hi Hungry, I’m not your dad.”

The reaction is instantaneous. Pietro _howls _with laughter, which in turn makes Nina giggle and David laughs nervously too. There’s an audible gasp from Wanda, while Lorna’s face has gone white and her mouth has dropped open in shock. Erik is covering his face with his hand.

Once everyone’s recovered, Erik sighs, lowers his hand, and gestures to the youngest ones in their brood, except for Nina, who is still sitting in the trolley. “Take these three and wait outside, Charles,” he says. “Lorna and I will deal with the shopping.” _You didn’t have to sink to her level_, he thinks, _You know she didn’t mean it_.

When Lorna doesn’t complain about the suggestion, Charles realises he actually has hit a nerve. Hurt radiates from Lorna’s mind, and she stares down at her feet. Guilt begins to swirl in his stomach, and he goes to open his mouth, intending to apologise, but Erik shoots him another look and nods his head in the direction of the doors.

Charles shepherds Wanda, Pietro, and David out of the store, and they wait just outside of the doors. The car is quite close, in an accessible bay, but he doesn’t like to sit in a stationary car for too long, not since the incident which left him paralysed, ten years ago now.

Eventually, Erik, Lorna, and Nina appear, bags full of shopping now in the trolley. They all pile into the minivan and Lorna still doesn’t say a word to Charles.

It’s safe to say, it’s a very awkward drive home, even with the younger kids chattering away. Lunch ends up being a rather sad pile of sandwiches.

**.x.x.x.**

Throughout dinner, Charles and Erik have a mental conversation about whether it’s right to stoop down to the same level as their kids. It consists of multiple reminders that Erik has dropped some bigger goofs in the almost fourteen years they’ve been together, but eventually, Erik winds up winning with a simple point.

_We chose all our kids_, _together_, he says, _Except Lorna_. _Of course she’s going to be a little sensitive. I think maybe she thinks you feel ‘stuck’ with her because you married me._

_But that’s not true at all_, Charles thinks back, shocked. He might be a telepath, but he isn’t the best at always understanding what his kids are feeling. _I love her. She’s my daughter._

Erik shoots him a look, but it’s followed with a soft smile. _Go remind her of that, then, you complete and utter dad_.

That’s when Charles realises that, at some point during their engaging mental discussion, Lorna has excused herself from the table. He sighs and makes short work of the rest of his dinner, then excuses himself, too, and heads upstairs to Lorna’s room.

When he reaches her room, he steels himself and knocks twice on the closed door. “Lorna? It’s your dad,” he says.

There’s a long silence from inside the room. Charles does his best not to peek into Lorna’s mind, giving her the privacy she seems to want right now. Finally, after what feels like forever but is likely no more than thirty seconds, there comes a quiet, “I know. Come in, Dad.”

Of course, she probably sensed the wheelchair and the elevator rising to the second floor. With some trepidation, he pushes open the bedroom door and enters. Lorna moves from being curled on her side, to sitting upright on the edge of the bed. Swallowing, Charles approaches, and they look up at each when he comes to a stop.

“I’m really sorry,” they both blurt at the same time, before blinking at each other in surprise. Then they give each other tentative smiles, and Charles reaches to take her hands between his, squeezing gently.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats. “That was a stupid joke I told, and I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m supposed to be the adult here.”

“Dad,” Lorna starts, but Charles isn’t finished by a longshot, so he squeezes her hands again.

“Let me finish,” Charles says quietly, looking at her pleadingly. “You’re always going to be my daughter, even if I didn’t adopt you under the same circumstances as your siblings. I’ve still been through all the same things with you as I have with them. Potty training. Stomach bugs. Setting money aside for a college fund. You don’t have to call me dad, if you’d rather not, but I’m _always _going to see you as my daughter.”

Lorna’s eyes are visibly wet, and Charles worries he’s said the wrong thing _again_, but then she chokes out, “Of course you’re my dad. You’ll always be my dad.”

The relief is almost overwhelming, and Charles goes to speak again but before he can, Lorna is on her feet and throwing her arms around him. His wheelchair almost topples, and he can feel Lorna quickly securing it with her powers before her grip around him tightens and she buries her face in his shoulder. It’s a bit of an awkward angle, but they make it work, and Charles’ arms go around her, too.

They stay like that for a long time, and Charles wouldn’t have it any other way.

**.x.x.x.**

“I _told _you she didn’t mean it,” Erik says, when they’re in bed that night, and he’s curled up around Charles.

“I knew she didn’t mean it,” Charles tells him. “It still hurt. I could’ve handled it better,” he admits.

“You could’ve,” Erik agrees. “But it’s over with now. You handled it well in the end.”

Charles hums his agreement. “We aren’t all that bad at this ‘dadding’ thing,” he says, casually. The follow-up is, by now, anticipated: “Maybe we should have one more.”

There’s a chuckle from behind him. “Go to sleep, Charles. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to see when I post more stuff, follow me on [Tumblr!](https://ofbrothersandteacakes.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Together With The Grandkids (remix of Dadding Together)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082476) by [newbie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/newbie/pseuds/newbie)


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